Wondering about blurred video overlay

[legzRwheelz]

Hey you guys! 

 

I've googled alot looking for a way to create an emulationstation styled global theme, the one thing i cant figure out is putting a blur over the video like ES uses as the bg.

 

i think it would look awesome to have the main menu and system sub menus with the horizontal wheel and the videos start blurred then go into focus, if someone could help me with the blurring if its just an over lay of some sort i would be much appreciative and be glad to share the theme to you guys once im finished

[wesfranks]

The most popular is a filter or video effect called "gaussian blur". The trick is how to get it on your media. Are you into video editing? Got software in mind?

 

Photos are easy. There are online photo editors that function similar to Adobe Photoshop with similar tool names and layout. But for video it is a little more interesting (undercover shareware, watermarking, spyware installs), unless you already have something. Of course, Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas would probably be most recommended.

 

Another note, is that you mentioned doing this with the Main Menu and sub menus. That is going to be a lot more work and would involve photo editing also.

 

For a similar workflow that you would have to use for the theme editing, look at this video and theme setup that is in the Downloads section. He is doing a lot of things (using lighting filters instead of blurring filters) that you would have to do for each theme that you set up. Interesting ideas. BTW, the video is in Portuguese, but you can follow his process. http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/files/file/11283-hyperspin-redesign-theme-default-flash-by-sem-cr%C3%A2nio/

 

Not to discourage you or anything, just wondered if you knew.

[legzRwheelz]

Thank you for a prompt and detailed response Wesfranks. I really didn't know where to begin, I don't have and video editing software apart from freemake video converter, as far as image manipulation, I use gimp.

 

I do learn fast, and with some guidance, know I would be able to accomplish what I am envisioning. I would love to share it to the this awesome community once completed. 

 

Now, I would like to further project my envision from what I already explained. I would be able to do the horizontal bar and the bottom bar. What I want to do is have the video start off blurred like this screenshot and come into focus.

 

I'm hoping there is a way to do this using the specialA*.swf or particle transitions. That way nobody has to do any video editing on their end. 

 

On another note, I haven't done any .swf editing, I have done some googling to see what i would be up against doing a custom specialA*.swf or particle trans.

 

Im still learning about theming, so please do correct me if im wrong about any of this.

[SUBZERO]

Why dont you make a trasparent blurred layer and place that in the theme so the video shows behind it? 

[dark13]

As said the best method would be encoding a timed blur into a video and simply use it. The main problem is fullscreen videos have some performance problem in HS if you use 1:1 pixels (1024*768), at stretched  640*480 it should look perfect.

 

As far as I remember a decent free video editor software without sh*tware is wax http://www.debugmode.com/wax/

 

Considering what you are trying to do probably you might use some components of the skin I'm preparing.

 

[wesfranks]

Sub, isn't a video or flash element still going to be needed for the transition from blurred to normal view.

 

Also, I believe the Special?.swf is the only way to get the title bar to the middle of the screen with the current HyperSpin. There are current projects that do this and also populate the information on the bar. I would look at how they do this.

 

Above all, I would encourage you too jump in if you have the time for it. Once you get a little familiarity with the tools, above a certain threshold you can end up with some interesting results. Always good to expand you knowledge base.

[wesfranks]

Ha, dark. Just the theme I was thinking about. Delayed sending my response, hit post and there you were.

[dark13]

Also, I believe the Special?.swf is the only way to get the title bar to the middle of the screen with the current HyperSpin. There are current projects that do this and also populate the information on the bar. I would look at how they do this.

 

To achieve that style hit "below wheel" checkbox in hypertheme for video and use Pointer layer for the main bar (Media\Main Menu\Images\Other\Pointer.png). You'll have the video (0), the bar (1) and the wheel (2) in this order.

[legzRwheelz]

I would like to thank everyone for such valuable input! I am currently in the process of trying some things out. I should have a tester them out there soon. All criticism is accepted, and all credit will be given to all who help

[legzRwheelz]

OK, so I've checked out wax, avidemux, watched some YouTube videos, and some good old fashioned Google-fu. It seems that for what I want to accomplish with a Gaussian blur overlay is possible... But using CSS. Am I able to incorporate css code into swf files?

Also, it seems in going to have the most luck using Adobe. Fortunately I know somebody with cs4, he may let me install it.

Sent from my N817 using Tapatalk

[wesfranks]

To achieve that style hit "below wheel" checkbox in hypertheme for video and use Pointer layer for the main bar (Media\Main Menu\Images\Other\Pointer.png). You'll have the video (0), the bar (1) and the wheel (2) in this order.

Ok. Pointer.png puts it on the right level and depth. Guess I was overthinking assuming a scroll animation would be going on.

 

It's amazing what you and others have done within the limitations by thinking outside the box.

[dark13]

OK, so I've checked out wax, avidemux, watched some YouTube videos, and some good old fashioned Google-fu. It seems that for what I want to accomplish with a Gaussian blur overlay is possible... But using CSS. Am I able to incorporate css code into swf files?

Also, it seems in going to have the most luck using Adobe. Fortunately I know somebody with cs4, he may let me install it.

Sent from my N817 using Tapatalk

 

As far as I know you can't use css in .swf BUT you can use actionscript3. BBB told me that running code in HS is not a good idea but honestly neither me nor the other people testing Aeon Nox XIII have encountered bugs while doing so.

The fact is for main menu it would probably better to just encode a new blurred video.

If you want to use AS3 you need to use a "dummy" empty video and load the video from a different folder directly into the background.swf. I use code that reads the name and the path of the swf, then use it to load an image named like the .swf from another folder, the same thing can be done with a .mp4 or a .flv.

[legzRwheelz]

I'm trying to wrap my itty bitty lil mind around all you have just said.

I understand the naming convention. I also know it would just be easier and better to just re-encode MY pre-existing videos with the blur, unfortunately i don't want to take this route because I want to share this to the world and don't want to have them re encode their movies.

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